Okaeri
by annoyinglyyours
Summary: Originally an entry for SSM2018 but ended up as an advanced birthday gift to Sakura this year. Sasuke centric but the feels... Read on.


Dedicated to the lovely Laine-o of Tumblr who I believe has the same mind as mine.

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In the outskirts of the village, you lived in a house where you happily ran after your brother who cannot stay with you because he was busy growing up. You sought the attention of your father who was also a father to your clansmen and the police force who ensures the safety of the entire village and its people. You patiently wait for the food your mother so lovingly prepared and ask her questions about almost everything.

At a very tender age, what should have been skinned knees became a wounded heart when the brother you looked up to betrayed everyone and taught you what hatred means.

Alone, you ran out of the district, passing out after the horrifying image of your family's murder played inside your head over and over. You were left to fend for yourself in a house with no mother going around to do her daily chores, not even a whisper from a father telling you to be like your brother.

You started building walls to guard your heart to make it impregnable. You cannot love, you can only hate. Because hatred is the only thing that will keep you going in order to avenge them and the clan. Hatred for the brother who poked your forehead with a promise, "Maybe next time".

You cannot love. The usuratonkachi pissed you off in so many ways, the jonin who gets lost in the path of life every single day you silently watched and the insensitive pink haired girl who always asked you out for a date annoyed you. Yet, when their lives were in danger, your body moved out of its own to protect them, even went berserk with the curse mark when the annoying one was badly hurt.

To gain power, you left the village and the girl who professed her love by the moonlit bench. The annoying pinkette that slowly cracked a part of the wall you built laid on the bench as you start on the path of revenge. You did not turn back.

There was no home to come home to, no family to wait for you.

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Killing the murderer you once called brother still left a big hole in your life, "I will love you always", with the last of his breath, was the confirmation that in this world, this very lifetime, the crest on your back will remain yours alone.

For the world to become a better place, you wanted to be the man everyone hated, you wanted to start a revolution, to break the system that tore apart your family so the many others will never share the same fate as yours. To do this, you knew you have to kill the usuratonkachi, the man who very much understood the concept of loss and everyone else who will stand in your way.

This was what the annoying pinkette made her decision to confess. She knew she couldn't stop you but she still tried because she knew deep in her heart, there is some good left in you - some good covered by all the darkness that hatred has brought you. You faltered, remembering how it felt like when you were once a little boy, sheltered by the family long gone.

It took you an arm to admit that you've lost.

A journey to redemption looked promising. At the village gates she stood by, offering herself as a companion just like many years ago when you first left the village. But this had nothing to do with her, you said. With two of your fingers on her forehead came a promise - "_I'll see you again when I come back… and thank you._".

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Today, you walk around the village you once wanted to destroy. Like your brother, you now felt that it was your duty to keep it and its people safe. You once brought back a Hyuga and blasted a meteor that threatened the entire world; prevented people from exploding caused by a kekkei genkai of another forgotten clan and lastly, made sure that someone annoying you know was safe.

You might have not considered breaking for it but as soon the crest on your back appeared on another one's - your _tsuma_ to be exact, "**_Tadaima_**", a word so foreign yet comforting slipped your tongue.

And then, just like the leaves on a tree, her pink hair swayed as she turned to you, giving you a smile that was only for you, she softly whispered, "**_Okaeri, Sasuke-kun_**."

Finally, you are _home_.


End file.
